Srimad Bhagavad Gita AS IT IS

Bhagavad Gita:   Chapter 6 - Dhyana-yoga

TEXT 16
                        naty-asnatas tu yogo 'sti
                         na caikantam anasnatah
                         na cati-svapna-silasya
                          jagrato naiva carjuna

   WORD FOR WORD
   na--never; ati--too much; asnatah--of one who eats; tu--but; yogah--linking with the Supreme; asti--there is; na--nor; ca--also; ekantam--overly; anasnatah--abstaining from eating; na--nor; ca--also; ati--too much; svapna-silasya--of one who sleeps; jagratah--or one who keeps night watch too much; na--not; eva--ever; ca--and; arjuna--O Arjuna.
 
TRANSLATION
   There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.
 
PURPORT by HDG Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad:

   Regulation of diet and sleep is recommended herein for the yogis. Too much eating means eating more than is required to keep the body and soul together. There is no need for men to eat animals, because there is an ample supply of grains, vegetables, fruits and milk. Such simple foodstuff is considered to be in the mode of goodness according to the Bhagavad-gita. Animal food is for those in the mode of ignorance. Therefore, those who indulge in animal food, drinking, smoking and eating food which is not first offered to Krsna will suffer sinful reactions because of eating only polluted things. Bhunjate te tv agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat. Anyone who eats for sense pleasure, or cooks for himself, not offering his food to Krsna, eats only sin. One who eats sin and eats more than is allotted to him cannot execute perfect yoga. It is best that one eat only the remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna. A person in Krsna consciousness does not eat anything which is not first offered to Krsna. Therefore, only the Krsna conscious person can attain perfection in yoga practice. Nor can one who artificially abstains from eating, manufacturing his own personal process of fasting, practice yoga. The Krsna conscious person observes fasting as it is recommended in the scriptures. He does not fast or eat more than is required, and he is thus competent to perform yoga practice. One who eats more than required will dream very much while sleeping, and he must consequently sleep more than is required. One should not sleep more than six hours daily. One who sleeps more than six hours out of twenty-four is certainly influenced by the mode of ignorance. A person in the mode of ignorance is lazy and prone to sleep a great deal. Such a person cannot perform yoga.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with permission.

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Prabhupada Uvacha:
(here's some nectar, sometimes it comes in the form of Srutakirti prabhu's diary, other times from Govinda dasi's diary, Hari Sauri prabhu's Transcendental Diary, Bhurijan prabhu's book, or sometimes from a letter, or other related source, but still nectar...)

May 1st, 1976

There are not many engagements or visitors, so Srila Prabhupada often calls in the sannyasis or whoever else is around to discuss Krsna conscious philosophy with them. Always enlivened to preach and to encourage his disciples to preach, he needs no prompting to speak. He simply rings his bell, and when someone comes he sits them down and begins to speak on the Bhagavad-gita. His favorite topics are modern science and all pseudospiritual cheating processes. He has us look up various verses in the Gita and read them out, often along with his purports, and then he elaborates the philosophical points by relating them to practical examples. Prabhupada doesn't just know the highest philosophical concepts, he knows the application, and this is what makes him such an effective preacher. He convinces us because he relates everything to situations within our daily experience.

Discussing the position of the soul within the body, he had Gurukrpa Maharaja read out verse seven from Chapter Fifteen: "The living entities in this conditional world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind."

He gave a simple, effective comparison: "So with this instrument he's manipulating this machine; as exactly the pilot, with so many electronics, machine, he's working the flying of the plane. Where is the difficulty to understand? This body is a machine. Bhramayan sarva-bhutani. The aeroplane is wandering; this machine is wandering. Urdhvam gacchanti sattva-sthah. Sometimes up, sometimes down. Find out this." Gurukrpa flicked through the pages of the Gita as Srila Prabhupada continued with a demonstration of his example. "Same aeroplane, going up and down. Two wings, this hand, like this."

Gurukrpa read out the verse: "Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds." (Bg. 14.18)

"So the same thing," Srila Prabhupada explained. "If the pilot is not expert, then goes down to the lowest, finished. Adho gacchanti tamasah. If the pilot is third class, instead of going up, he goes down, and everything is spoiled. So everything on the pilot; the machine is not important. The machine can go up if the pilot knows how to do it. And the machine can go down. Actually, it is happening. This landing point is very dangerous. If the pilot cannot handle very nicely, immediately smashed. All crises take place while coming down and going up. I have seen sometimes, they clap as soon as they ... " Prabhupada clapped his hands, grinning and raising his eyebrows as if in relief, making us all laugh. "'Oh, the danger is over!'

"In this way," he said, "you have to place the subject matter, that the living entity, the soul, is the important thing within this body. On account of his ignorance, he's struggling. Manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati. This is his position."

He said since the body is temporary and must die one way or the other, learned persons do not lament over it. But still he said there was something to lament.

"So what is to lament after this body? Lamentation is that the person within the body, whether he's going to hell or heaven. Urdhvam gacchanti or tamo gacchanti. That is real concern. Body will be finished, today or tomorrow or after a hundred years. Who can protect it? But one should be interested with the owner of the body, where he is going, what is his next position. There are three status: up, down, and the same."

- From the "A Transcendental Diary Vol 2" by HG Hari Sauri dasa

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"Chemicals Come From Life"

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Pradyumna: ...fire.

Prabhupada: Is it ?

Devotee: No.

Pradyumna: "Vayuh... (leads chanting, etc.) Translation: "Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego -- altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies."

Prabhupada:

bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh
kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahankara itiyam me
bhinna prakrtir astadha

Prakrti means energy. So, because we are in the material world, our material science is simply studying the material energy of Krsna. Physical, chemical, light, sound, these are the subject matter of the scientists to understand. But they do not know wherefrom these material elements come.

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam or in the Vedic literature it is said that the material energy came out of the breathing of the Supreme Lord, Maha-Visnu.

yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur-mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
 [Bs. 5.48]

The material energy is coming through the breathing of Maha-Visnu, who is lying down in the Karana, Causal Ocean. So, from the breathing there is sound. From the ether, the sound comes -- this is scientific -- and from the sound, the air comes, the fire comes, then water comes, then the earth comes. The earth is the last, gross element in the material science. Therefore Krsna says this earth, bhumi... Bhumi, earth, has come out of water, apah. And wherefrom apah, water, has come? Analah, fire. Wherefrom fire has come? From air. Where the air has come? Ether, sky. Wherefrom the ether has come? False ego. Where from it has come? Mind. Wherefrom it has come? Intelligence. And wherefrom it has come? From the soul. This is the scientific study. But they do not know background of the soul. They're thinking, "There was a chunk and there was something. That's all. Perhaps, it may be." No definite knowledge. But here you can take the definite knowledge, wherefrom these material elements come. This Krsna is the Supreme Soul.

So from the Supreme Soul all these material elements have come. Just like your body. Wherefrom it has come? It has come from the soul. In the sastra it is said, karmana daiva-netrena jantur deha-upapatti [SB 3.31.1]. Jantu. Jantu means living entity, jan word(?), jantu. So jantur deha-upapatti. There... The atheist theory that combination of matter makes a situation when living symptoms come out, combination of matter, that is the present chemical theory, chemical evolution. There are so many theories based on Darwin's theory, chemical evolution. Recently, when I was in Los Angeles, one German scientist came there. He has written one book, Chemical Evolution, and he has got Nobel Prize. Now he's touring for lecturing on his theory. So in the California university there is our student, Dr. Svarupa Damodara. He's my disciple. He's doctor in chemistry. So, when this German chemist was lecturing, theorizing that life has come from chemicals, so he put the question that "Suppose if I give you these chemicals, whether you can prepare a life?" He answered in the meeting, "That I cannot say." That means he's not certain; still, he's theorizing, that from chemical, life has come. No, from chemical, life has not come; from life, chemical has come. This is real theory.

So these things are discussed very broadly in our American centers, so we stick to the point that life does not come from chemical, but chemical comes from life. So I gave one crude example. Just like a tree. It is also life, because there are different forms of life, 8,400,000 forms of life. So a tree also, another form of life. One who knows what is the condition of life, pandita, learned, sama-darsinah.

vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
 [Bg. 5.18]

Pandita, who knows what is what, he is sama-darsi, equipoised. He knows that the substance within the tree or substance with the dog or substance with the human being or substance within the brahmana or a sudra or a dog or a candala -- the soul is the same. Therefore, he sees everyone, sama-darsinah. Panditah sama-darsinah [Bg. 5.18]. He does not distinguish between man and animal or tree. Because he knows that the living force is the same, spiritual quality that is the fragmental portion of the supreme soul, Krsna. So we can understand, if we are little sober, how material things come out.

continued.......................

Haribol Prabhus,
There are two temples in Shantipur. One is in the village where ISKCON participates in the Shantipur festival on the disappearance day of Madhavendrapuri. And, the other temple is in the city. These pictures were taken the next morning in Shantipur after the festival.

Shantipur City temple Shantipur village temple

While attending the festival 2005, we inquired about the Saligram Sila that Sri Advaita Acarya worshiped to call Lord Caitanya. The priest, a descendant of Advaita Acharya, said that the saligram was buried under the altar 200 years ago for it's protection. I didn't believe the story so I returned the next morning after mangal arati with His Holiness Amilavilas Swami. He spoke with a different pujari who agreed to bring the saligram silas out for us to see. They are not on the altar for darshan normally. The picture with the two nrsmhadeva silas and three others are from the temple in the village. The pujari said that one of the two nrsmha silas has responsible for the descent of Lord Caitanya. The pujari gave us the tulasi leaves from the saligrams as prasadam. We honored some of them, and I took one home and put it on my altar. I also had brought my Bala Gopal sila and the purjari bath him along with the nrsmha silas.

Advaita bhavan Shantipur village temple Salagram silas

We also visited the Advaita temple in the city. Amazingly, the pujari there looks just like the pujari in the village. Of course, he is a descendant of Sri Advaita also. He showed us another nrsmha sila that Sri Advaita worshiped also. So, one of the three is the one. Or, maybe he is buried under the altar like the first pujari said.

The village temple is were Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, and Sri Advaita would meet to discuss how to spread the sankirtan movement. Srila Prabhupada would visit this temple during his grhastra days and later as a sannyasi and pray for the blessing to spread the sankirtan movement in the west. So, this is a very powerful and Krsna Conscious location. I'll tell that story at the end of this article.

An interesting point I like to make is that this Nrsmha Sila actually brought Radha and Krsna together as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This Sila gave birth to the Sankirtan movement that we all are participating in today. Sri Advaita Acharya offered tulasi and ganges water and begged for the appearance of the Lord to the Nrsmha sila. That sila fullfilled the request and cause the descent of Mahaprabhu. That is a very special saligram. I offered my obeisances and beg for empowerment to spread Krsna Consciousness in the west from that Saligram. I prayed at both temples.

I hope some others can shed more light on the history of this saligram. The pujari in the city said that an ISKCON matajai spent a few months there compiling a research paper for her Doctorate in Religion in 2002 or so. He showed us the book but we didn't have time to read much. I only had a short time to visit Mayapur this year (2005) and could not return to discuss more with the pujaris.

Srila Prabhupada and Advaita Bhavan

Sri Advaita Acarya's house is very significant also because Srila Prabhupada visited there often to beg for empowerment to spread Krsna Consciousness in the west. In 1980 at our Caitanya Candrodoya Mandira in Mayapur, the pujari of the temple visited and told the story of Srila Prabupada's visits. This pastime was told at the Sanitpur festival this year and is also in the book "Our Srila Prabhupada a Friend to All". It is compiled by the late Mulaprakrti devi dasi ACBSP. It is a collection of interviews with people outside of ISKCON who new Srila Prabhupada before and after he began preaching in the west. The pastime is as follows.
During the 1940's and 50's, the pujari noticed that one grhastha Bengali devotee used to come to the temple quite regularly. He was dressed in a white khadi dhoti and kurta and he always came alone. He would sit in the back of the mandira without speaking, and he would chant hari-nama on his mala very quietly and deeply. He would come on weekends, usually once every month or two. After chanting there for many hours, he would always thank the pujari and leave. Since his devotion was solitary, the pujari never disturbed him. The pujari would notice that while he chanted, his eyes would be full of tears and his voice would choke up.
Then for a long time, he did not come back. However, the pujari remembers that in August of 1965, he saw a saffron-clothed sannyasi sitting in the back of the mandira. He recognozied him to be the person from before. Again he sat for a long time chanting Hare Krsna. He was weeping unabashedly even more than before while he took the Holy Name. Finally, as evening came, he paid his dandavat pranama for a long time. When he arose, he came up to the pujari and thanked him for his seva at Advaita Bhavan. The pujari asked him, "Who are you? I remember you from so long ago." He replied, "My name is Abhaya Caranaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja. I am an unworthy disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, Srila Prabhupada, my divine master. I have been coming here for such a long time becasue my gurudeva has given me an impossible mission. His desire was for me to go across the ocean to the Western countries and spread the sublime teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I have not known how this mission of his will be successful, so I have been coming here to this special house of Advaita Acarya, where he, Nityananda Prabhu, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would gather to plan the sankirtana movement. It was here that they launched the inundation of love of God that swept India and continues to this day. Thus, I have been praying very earnestly here that they will all give me their mercy and somehow they will empower me and guide me. I want to satisfy my gurudeva's desire, but I am feeling unqualified to do this."

As he was speaking to the pujari, he saw tears falling down on his cheeks again. Then he continued, "Tomorrow I am leaving for Calcutta to go upon a ship across the ocean to America. I do not know what will befall me there, but I am praying most earnestly here for help." Then, he very humbly asked the pujari for his blessings.

It was a few year later that the pujari began to noticed, for the first time, white Vaisnavas coming to Advaita Bhavan. They were wearing dhotis and saris and chanting on tulasi-mala. The pujari never spoke to any of them but then one of them gave him a "Back to Godhead" magazine from America. As the pujari was looking through it, he saw a painting of Srila Prabhupada label as the Founder-Archaya who brought Krsna Consciousness to the West. It was a picture of his old friend, Bhaktivedanta Swami, who had come and prayed there so many times before. He then realized that he had actually accomplished that impossible mission of his gurudeva. He saw that it was indeed he, starting alone and without pretense, who had accomplished this glorious miracle against all odds. As soon as the pujari saw this, he came to the temple in Mayapura to tell this information.

Jagaguru Srila Prabhupada KI JAYA!!!!

ys,
Sikhi Mahiti das ACBSP